The Fall 2009 D&D Campaign

Lines on the Battlefield, Khorvash and Taylors vs Devils!

While the rest of the party is exploring the sewers for a far higher amount of time than is sanitary or wise, Khorvash is staying in Reggie’s tower, with a few tasks to accomplish under the guise of flirting (which, coincidentally, is one of his tasks). He heads into town to purchase an exotic and haphazard set of arcane materials, then pours them on his cat. Exasperated, Mr. Taylor explains the correct method for turning an animal into a familiar, which Khorvash more or less performs, turning his cat into the super-intelligent (for a cat) Josep Nekolai. However, before he can ask the Red Angel to join his party (a double entendre!), the Taylors’ tower is attacked. Khorvash quickly joins the fray, in a battle that future generations will know as the Power at the Tower.

While the combat quickly pairs off into one-on-one fights between named members of opposing factions (as all good, large anime fights do), Khorvash is surprisingly effective in early combat firing coldballs from the top of an iron golem, damaging the devils but not the Taylors’ skeletons, who are immune to cold. Mr. Taylor compliments Khorvash on his tactical expertise and knowledge of both sides of combat, until Khorvash explains that he is on the golem because heroes always have the highest vantage point, and he thought that skeletons were immune to cold because they are white, like snow. Unfortunately, this uses most of his spells, so when his one-on-one fight rolls around near the end of the combat, he is easily defeated by a devil he does not recognize. His iron golem moves to protect him just before the tower collapses, and when he wakes up only a few survivors (and the party) remain.

Tragedy! The Sweeper's Fate

The party (minus Khorvash) resolves to stop the Cult of the Eternal Sweeper by doing what they do best, which is entering the Sewers of Ferdinand and killing creatures. This time, the unwitting subjects are almost a set of humans, but some clever negotiating gets the party into a more exciting fight with cultists. Señor Risco reappears to make up for the missing crew member, but even he has trouble in the next encounter against the Invisible Touch. A liberal application of the Six-String Submission eventually turns the tide of battle in the party’s favor, and they progress down a river into the deepest parts of the sewers.

After a confusing and somewhat vague set of encounters with constructs, the party breaks into the Eternal Sweeper’s sanctum, only to find that it has already been dispatched by two people who taunt the party and teleport away. Kangohei’s Memory Read delivers the Prophecy of Cleanliness, very vaguely hinting at the locations of the Nine Awesomes. The party is super-pleased with itself until the return to the Taylor’s tower, where they find that it has been exploded. Though a helpful robot has saved Khorvash, the Taylors are dead again and the Red Angel has been kidnapped.

Warring Under the City - Meet the Red Angel!

The party’s search for Herman leads them back into Ferdinand’s Sewers, which they can now navigate like the backs of their hands. Unfortunately, their hands are unlucky, because not two rooms into the sewers they find a battle between the Cult of the Eternal Sweeper and the Army of the Red Angel. When the battle ends, the only combatant left standing is the Red Angel herself, who manages to escape but not before she is successfully and magically marked. During the trip to Herman’s lair, the party is attacked by an undead assassin, who quickly dispatches Khorvash but is scared away by Gitarisuto and Gai. After another quick combat with a Table Monster, the party uses the Khorvash Bulldozer to reveal Herman’s room. Though Herman is immediately able to incapacitate Khorvash and Taylor Jr., the rest of the party manages to slay him and place him and his loot in their proper places (a tomb and pockets, respectively).

Though their quest is complete, nothing is ever easy, and the Taylors are interested in retrieving the Red Angel, alive. During long and boring conversations about magic and tactics, Khorvash and Gai-san wander into a section of Port Ferdinand with many very friendly ladies (and exactly two very friendly men), where they stumble upon the scene of a murder from days ago. Khorvash talks to a nice kitty and Gai-san talks to nobody at all, and Khorvash makes a new friend while Gai-san does not, and everybody learns an important lesson about communication. The next day, the plan the party apparently put together goes off without a hitch, except that the Red Angel is a far more formidable opponent than the party expected. Gitarisuto-san manages to apply a full nelson long enough for Gai-san to reveal her special move, Gai Pierce, and this turns the tide of the battle. Once the Red Angel is safely under control, the party returns to the Taylors to discover her backstory and rest for their next adventures.

A House of Death! Find the Ancient Library!

Due to a successful defense of their body parts, the party descends further into the sewers, eventually coming across the suspiciously clean (for a sewer) Cult of the Eternal Sweeper. After listening to a short sermon, Gai-san uses her power over other creature’s blood to kill the bodyguard duo of Cthulhu and his brother Other Cthulhu, and the party begins to explore the crypts. Their exploration ends when the combined might of every ally (also Gitarisuto-san) hefts a mighty door into the air and accidentally breaks into the Church of the Ostentatious Window.

A hearty night of failing to sleep properly follows, and the party re-enters the sewers through the least-effective possible route. Here, they come across a series of poorly-designed houses, one of which is knee-deep with corpses. However, the corpses manage to point the party to a map, which directs everybody to a hidden vault filled with secret treasures. The wildly ineffective zombies guards perform a series of actions that are wildly ineffective, and the party’s phenomenon intelligence and handsomeness manages to open the vault. Unfortunately, the contents are only some books and a television with only one channel, so after convincing some hobgoblins that Khorvash is the greatest hero ever and scientifically learning the maximum load of a crocodile, they meet a lich tailor and agree to accompany his son to kill Herman Munster, who works at a morgue.

A Great Adventure Begins! Entering the Contested Sewers

Everybody begins their day in Port Ferdinand, going about their business, until a popular musical concert is interrupted by a band of kaerujin and the crew that chases them across the stage. In short order, a small group of adventurers is gathered to track the kaerujin through the sewers and prevent them from performing further interruptions:

Khorvash, our hero, a desert-dwelling magician seeking a party for further adventuringGai-san, a super-strong assassin with the power of a guild behind herRyu-ossan, a plane-hopping shape-shifting well-aged druid
Gitarisuto-san, a well-armored musician who prefers the front lines of combat
Kangohei-san, a drummer who can heal allies at instant speed
Ite-kun, a halfling archer who fears no personal harm
Hari-san, a ranger specializing in the weapons of the elves
Kingu, a puppy!

Shortly after entering the sewers, the party is attacked by the Fez Pirates, a fierce set of devils with the ability to deal wounds that never heal, but shortly after the battle starts, a new ally joins the party’s side: Señor Risco, a practitioner of lucha libre. With his help, the party is able to defeat the pirates and move on to a more challenging encounter: the Hazard Brothers, four demons who can spread suffering to anybody they wish. Because Señor Risco had left to pursue other adventures, the combat went far less efficiently, and only after some severe tactics and a misspent use of the Khorvash Special was the party able to emerge victorious. Now, the party has resolved to drive deeper into the sewers, hoping to find the kaerujin before they exhaust themselves to extinction.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.